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Re: BREAKING NEWS ~ Continuously Updated
Posted by sdv
(here)
I was not sure where to put this. Most would never have heard of this man who has just died. Below is an excerpt from the tribute released by the Chinese government ...
Comrade Zhu Rongji was deeply affectionate towards the people, emphasizing that government staff must bear in mind that they are public servants of the people, dare to speak the truth, are not afraid of offending others, do not engage in privilege, and with a strong sense of responsibility, take the initiative to shoulder heavy burdens and tackle the toughest challenges, going all out to do practical things for the people.
https://thinkbrics.substack.com/p/th...apter-decoding
Some more about Zhu Rongji’s personal life and some tributes.
Carlos
@agent_of_change
Zhu Rongji has died in Beijing, aged 97. Premier of China from 1998 to 2003, he was one of the most consequential figures of the reform era.
He was born in Changsha in 1928. His father died before he was born and his mother when he was nine; he was raised by an uncle who paid for his schooling. He got into Tsinghua to study electrical engineering in 1947, became a student leader, and joined the Communist Party in 1949.
Purged during the Cultural Revolution and sent for five years to a cadre school – where he raised pigs and planted rice – he was rehabilitated in 1978, and rose on the basis of his proven competence. Deng Xiaoping’s assessment was that, of the leadership at the time, “Zhu Rongji is the only one who understands economics”.
Zhu led the 1994 tax-sharing reform, which rebuilt the central government’s fiscal capacity, at a time when Beijing controlled only a fraction of national revenue. Without that reform there is no poverty alleviation campaign, no massive development program of the western and central regions, no high-speed rail network.
He pursued “grasp the large, release the small”, consolidating the strategic state sector while letting smaller loss-making firms go. And in 1998 he ordered the People’s Liberation Army out of commercial business entirely – which is part of the reason why China’s military has never become the sort of corrupt political force that has plagued other countries.
Zhu managed China’s response to the Asian financial crisis in 1997, keeping capital controls firmly in place, refusing to devalue the renminbi, and expanding fiscal spending into infrastructure. Devaluing would have triggered a cascade of competitive devaluations across a region already in collapse. Much of Southeast Asia owes China a significant debt on this score.
The short-term costs to the restructuring of the SEOs were substantial. State enterprise employment fell from 77 million in 1995 to 42 million by 2003. Roughly 40 million people lost access to the “iron rice bowl”. But alongside the restructuring, China put in place the basic living security system for laid-off state enterprise workers, the unemployment insurance system, the minimum living guarantee for urban residents, sustained campaigns against wage arrears and for re-employment.
Compare that with what happened in Russia in the 1990s. Yeltsin and his cronies handed control of the economy to a few dozen oligarchs, output halved, male life expectancy fell to around 57, and millions fell into unemployment, destitution and misery. China kept the commanding heights in public hands, kept capital controls in place, kept the Party’s authority over capital, and put a safety net under the people who lost out. In the process, it emerged as the workshop of the world.
Zhu was well-known for his hatred of corruption, and his initiatives in that field prefigure the systematic campaign launched by President Xi. “I will prepare 100 coffins for the corrupt, and one for me, for I will die of fatigue”. He is reported to have read some 16,000 letters a year from ordinary citizens in order to understand people’s concerns. He raged at “bean curd construction” – building projects where corruption had led to dangerously poor quality. In retirement he gave away tens of millions of yuan in book royalties to rural education.
Asked by Western journalists in 1990 whether he was China’s Gorbachev, he replied: “No, I am China’s Zhu Rongji”. A very good thing too. Rest in power.
https://x.com/agent_of_change/status...07000867758471
Hao HONG 洪灝, CFA
Aug 12
Zhu Rongji, a reformist and a leading figure in China’s economic restructuring, passed away today at the age of 98.
“為學在嚴，嚴格認真，嚴謹求實，嚴師可出高徒。
Be rigorous in learning: be strict and conscientious, be precise and realistic, and a strict teacher can train brilliant students.
為人要正，正大光明，正直清廉，正己然後正人。
Be upright in conduct: be open and aboveboard, be honest and upright, and rectify oneself before rectifying others.”
RIP
https://x.com/HAOHONG_CFA/status/2087487932185919565
Theresa Fallon
Aug 12
Zhu Rongji was a force of nature.
“Mr. Zhu, who worked under Jiang Zemin, the Communist Party leader at the time, contributed more to liberalizing the Chinese economy and making it more internationally competitive than any other recent leader except Deng Xiaoping. Mr. Zhu’s initiatives propelled rapid growth in China that lasted, with a little slowing along the way, until the housing market began to crash in 2021.”
https://x.com/TheresaAFallon/status/2087644862867026235
Loong of the east
Aug 12
Breaking News: Comrade Zhu Rongji, former Premier of the State Council of China, passed away in Beijing at 11:06 AM on August 12, 2026, at the age of 98, after failing to respond to medical treatment.
Although he served as Premier for only five years, countless Chinese people believe that he made significant contributions to the country and the people overall (even though his market-oriented reforms of state-owned enterprises and the "layoff" policy were hotly debated). In particular, he spearheaded China's transition from a planned economy to a market economy and its opening up to the outside world, injecting vitality and momentum into the Chinese economy, and successfully responding to the 1998 Asian financial crisis.
He was a rare national leader with expertise in economics and finance. Let us remember this great figure.
This is the official evaluation of him: An outstanding member of the Communist Party of China, a long-tested and loyal communist fighter, an outstanding proletarian revolutionary and statesman, and an exceptional leader of the Party and the state.
https://x.com/loong_of/status/2087492433386905689
Hvygens
Aug 12
Translated from Spanish
Direct descendant of Emperor Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming dynasty.
Electrical engineer.
Survived two Maoist purges for being labeled a "rightist."
Rationalized the Chinese tax system: created separate national and local tax administrations, standardized the distribution of tax revenues between the central government and provinces, unified the main internal tax regimes, and replaced the labyrinthine system of product taxes and turnover taxes with a 17% VAT for most goods and a 3-5% turnover tax for most services.
Devalued the currency by 33%, unifying the exchange rate at the market level.
Tamed inflation, bringing it down from 25% in October 1994 to 8% in December 1995, while maintaining double-digit real GDP growth.
Reformed the People's Bank of China following the structure of the Federal Reserve system, after studying the Fed and meeting repeatedly with Alan Greenspan. Abolished provincial branches and shifted to a regional model, thereby breaking the interference of provincial party bosses over the credit system.
Maintained a fixed parity with the dollar during the Asian financial crisis.
Separated development financing from commercial banking, founding the China Development Bank, the Agricultural Development Bank, and the Export-Import Bank.
Cleaned up the banking system by creating four Asset Management Corporations to remove 1.4 trillion RMB in nonperforming loans from the balance sheets of the big four banks, preparing them for stock market listings.
Imposed strict budgetary constraints on the rest of the financial system, closing hundreds of trust and investment companies and clandestine local banks, and allowing the bankruptcy of the Guangdong International Trust and Investment Corporation.
Restructured, privatized, or liquidated tens of thousands of state-owned enterprises, laying off 30 million workers (about a quarter of the state workforce) and dismantling the "iron rice bowl," the system by which public enterprises guaranteed lifetime employment, housing, healthcare, and education to workers.
Spun off the most valuable assets of major state-owned enterprises and listed them on the stock exchanges of Hong Kong, New York, and Shanghai to impose transparency and market discipline.
Together with Jiang Zemin, forced the People's Liberation Army, the People's Armed Police, and the public security apparatus to divest their multibillion-dollar commercial empires, drastically reducing opportunities for corruption.
Reorganized the state: abolished the old Soviet-style industrial administration, cut the State Council's staff in half, reduced its departments from 40 to 29, eliminated ministries that directly managed industries, and reoriented the state toward a regulatory role rather than an entrepreneurial one. Ultimately, eliminated more than a million administrative positions across the entire Party-state apparatus.
Sold state-owned housing to tenants at preferential prices, formally kickstarting China's massive residential real estate market.
Launched a massive infrastructure investment program.
Personally drove China's entry into the WTO, taking major political risks in negotiations with the United States and making the market-opening concessions that ultimately enabled the 1999 bilateral agreement and China's accession in 2001.
"Prepare 100 coffins: ninety-nine for the corrupt officials and one for me."
R.I.P. Zhu Rongji.
https://x.com/Hvygens/status/2087553583373828328
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